Viewpoint: Moving Pieces

The relationship between the
Ultimate Fighting Championship and Fuel TV spanned
approximately 16 months, with 10 events providing around 30 hours
-- give or take -- of live mixed martial arts coverage.

It began in the heartland of America on a winter night last year
and ended on Saturday in a steamy gymnasium in Brazil. In between,
there were countless complaints regarding the accessibility of the
niche network, which devoted nearly half of its airtime to UFC
content once the promotion inked a seven-year deal with Fox Sports
Media Group in the summer of 2011. While Fuel TV was not available
on all cable and satellite providers, those who were able to watch
the events witnessed their fair share of history.

The former action-sports based network played host to the emergence
of burgeoning stars such as Alexander
Gustafsson, Chan Sung
Jung, Chris
Weidman and Renan Barao;
it broadcast renaissance moments for fan favorites like Wanderlei
Silva and Cung Le; and
when the UFC wanted to break new ground in Sweden, China or more
remote locations in Brazil, Fuel TV was often the destination. Not
too shabby for a network that originated from an energy
drink-infused base of skateboarding, motocross and BMX.

Nothing was more extreme than violence the UFC brought, however,
and while the numbers might have been disappointing by the Las
Vegas-based organization’s standards, MMA content consistently
delivered the highest ratings on the channel. Fox was using the UFC
to draw eyes to one of its lesser-known entities, but the promotion
used the relationship to further its own agenda, as well.

UFC on Fuel TV 10 was a perfect example of Zuffa’s ulterior
motives, specifically catering to an international audience. It was
the promotion’s second straight venture into a Brazilian outpost
that was not Rio de Janeiro or Sao Paulo, and the card was, for the
most part, constructed to appeal to fight fans from the South
American nation, with little regard for viewers elsewhere.

The co-main event featured the welterweight finalists of the
under-the-radar second season of “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” --
Leonardo
Santos and William
Macario -- in a bout that hardly inspired comparisons to the
groundbreaking scrap between future UFC hall of famers Forrest
Griffin and Stephan
Bonnar at “The Ultimate Fighter 1” Finale. Still, tears were
shed as Santos celebrated his induction into “TUF” immortality --
an honor that seems to mean less and less with each iteration of
the show.

File
Photo

Werdum won the final fight on Fuel TV.

Other former “The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil” alums were also given a
push. The charismatic Rony Mariano Bezzera toppled “The Ultimate
Fighter: The Smashes” competitor Mike
Wilkinson in the first round. It was his third straight
opponent from a recent “Ultimate Fighter” season. Likewise,
castmate Daniel
Sarafian had little trouble dispatching the unheralded Eddie
Mendez in just more than two minutes.

All three of the aforementioned bouts took place on the main card,
prominent placement for fighters lacking a significant connection
with the casual fan. Again, that was never the intention. Like its
forays into Sweden and China, the UFC’s international cards are
stocked with as much local -- that being a relative term in some
cases -- talent as possible. UFC on Fuel TV 10 was celebrated as
much as it was for its surplus of quick finishes and crowd-pleasing
submissions. The action played out the way it did, in large part,
because many of the guys who were supposed to win did so
emphatically.

The idea being that the likes of Bezzera, Sarafian and Santos can
easily transition to a Fortaleza or Jaragua do Sul when the UFC
makes a return trip. On a larger platform, with a larger
viewership, this model might not work as well.

For most, the end of Fuel TV is a welcome change, as Fox Sports 1
is expected to be present in some 90 million homes from its Aug. 17
inception. The channel is Fox’s challenge to ESPN’s 24-hour sports
behemoth, and the UFC will have a prominent place at the table next
to established commodities such as Major League Baseball, NCAA
football and basketball and NASCAR -- a far more powerful group
than the X-Games set.

The UFC is no bit player, either, as the launch of the new network
is highlighted by a loaded fight card in Boston. In one sense, this
would not seem to be much different than the UFC’s debut on Fox,
but going from Fuel TV, which was in anywhere from 30 to 35 million
homes, to FS1 is undoubtedly a big deal. Any attempt to challenge
the Worldwide Leader is going to be an uphill climb, and Fox
executives clearly need to assemble an All-Star lineup to do so.
Previously, Fox fight cards were regarded as some of the key events
for the promotion’s success. That will not change, but now more
eyes figure to be on the UFC more consistently than ever
before.

That brings us back to events like UFC on Fuel TV 10, which will go
down in history as the last of a breed. The day may be coming when
the UFC no longer has the luxury of nurturing lesser talent in the
manner it did on Saturday; the growing Fox Sports empire simply may
not allow it. There will be ways to build the Bezzeras and
Sarafians of the world, but come late summer, positioning them on a
main card on free TV against overmatched competition could prove to
be a less than desirable option.

Of course, the UFC can arrange its pay-per-view lineup as it
pleases, and preliminary portions of such cards can always serve as
a launching point for reality show darlings. The presence of sister
network Fox Sports 2 -- Fuel TV’s official replacement -- could
also prove to be significant, depending on its role. According to a
release, four UFC events are tentatively expected to air on FS2 in
2014. At any rate, with Fuel TV no longer around, free television
events centered on spoonfeeding prospects could be a thing of the
past, or at least they should be. Surpassing ESPN requires a little
more.

“Fans are ready for an alternative to the establishment,” Fox
Sports Media Group Co-President Eric Shanks stated in a release
announcing the launch of FS1 a few months ago.

That the UFC is at the forefront of that change speaks volumes
about the promotion’s growth in recent years. Do not expect too
many tears to be shed about the demise of Fuel TV, at least by
fight fans, but the short-lived relationship between the promotion
and network served as a necessary steppingstone to the current
destination.

The UFC is nearly two years into its relationship with Fox. Already
it feels like the landscape is again changing, and that involves
far more than the introduction of a confusing naming convention for
FS1 events. The UFC on Fuel TV era is over. Now it is on to bigger
and better things.